Rare breed sheep will be grazing the wildflower meadows of The Green Park in August, to help the invertebrate community thrive

From the 21-27 August, Green Park is welcoming woolly visitors for a conservation trial that sees The Royal Parks Mission: Invertebrate team up with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and Mudchute Farm.

Rare breed sheep will be used for grazing across one of the wildflower meadows in Green Park, to help London’s tiniest creatures thrive and prevent the sheep species from becoming extinct. The scheme is part of the Royal Parks Mission: Invertebrate project which has received £600,000 from the Players of People’s Postcode Lottery to shine a spotlight on the capital’s vital grassland creatures.

Livestock grazing has an important role in wildlife conservation, and is carried out to manage and improve habitats of high nature conservation value. Most grasslands in the UK would eventually become dense scrub and woodland if left un-grazed. The trial hopes to help maintain a variety of plant species, and prevent coarse grasses dominating the meadow in Green Park, which will ultimately encourage a greater variety of pollinators and other meadow-based invertebrates.

Invertebrates are the unsung heroes of the ecosystem and every day millions of tiny creatures are working 24/7 to keep our environment flourishing and our food chain moving. With green spaces under ever increasing pressure, parklands are more valuable to wildlife than ever before.

The sheep species taking part include: Oxford Downs, Whitefaced Woodlands, Southdown’s and Manx Loaghtan. These breeds have been selected for the trial, as unlike modern commercial breeds that rely on supplementary food from man, they have evolved to thrive on a variety of different plants. They will therefore eat the tougher grass, and trample in the seed that has dropped from the wildflowers in the meadow.

Dr Alice Laughton, who is leading the project for The Royal Parks, comments:

“We are very excited to be carrying out the first sheep grazing trial in The Royal Parks. By increasing the biodiversity of the park grasslands, we hope to encourage the invertebrates that inhabit meadow grasslands to flourish, and it will help plan how we manage the parks in the future. We’re delighted that People’s Postcode Lottery recognises the important role of invertebrates and that the Players are helping us to inspire the UK public.”